Friday, June 28, 2013

A new institute has been established at Birmingham University in the English Midlands to research into 'superdiversity'. The Institute for Research into Superdiversity (also known as IRIS) is headed by Dr Jenny Phillimore who also invented the word 'superdiversity'. It will carry out research into patterns in migration and hopes to contribute to the public discourse on the changes to society and culture that will be caused by the movement of people around the world.

She said 'more people from a greater number of countries are living in the UK than ever before. Research into this emerging trend is of critical importance to understanding the challenges and opportunities for our society and economy.'

Dr Phillimore conducted research into the ethnic makeup of Birmingham, England's second city, and discovered that people from 187 countries live there. Dr Phillimore told The Birmingham Post 'Politicians talk about migration and immigration but these discussions overlook the fact that society is changing at a greater speed ad scale than ever before. Diversity is being replaced by superdiversity'.

IRIS will contribute to a 'realistic debate on immigration'

Dr Phillimore says that she hopes IRIS will contribute to a realistic debate on immigration. She told the Birmingham Post 'I want to bring some reason to the debate on migration and immigration. One thing you will never hear a politician say is that it is irreversible. But we reached that tipping point some five to ten years ago. 2.9m people have come to Britain in the last ten years. Does anyone seriously think we are going to throw them all out?'

Dr Phillimore says that globalisation has changed the nature of the immigrant experience. 'There has been a shift in recent years from us being a multicultural society where we had large, well-established, minority ethnic groups. We now have people from all over the world, and not just in some cities. Diversity is everywhere. Birmingham is probably the best place in Europe to look at superdiversity on this scale. It is happening almost everywhere in the developed world. Toronto has people from 200 countries, Rotterdam and Frankfurt 170 countries'.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Quebec Immigrant Investor Program (QIIP) is tentatively scheduled to reopen on 1st August 2013. If it does, then Quebec will accept 'a limited number of applications' before closing the program again so, if you are interested, it would be well to begin to prepare your application now.

The QIIP was last reopened on 21st March 2012. At that time, the Quebecois government announced that it would accept 2700 applications before closing the program again. These 2,700 applications were received within one month. So if past experience is anything to go by, investors will need to apply quickly in order to beat the rush.

To qualify for the QIIP, applicants must have net assets of at least CAN$1,600,000 which must have been lawfully acquired. Any money donated to the applicant in the six months before the application is made will be discounted.

They must also have worked in management for at least two years in the last five years in one of the following fields

Farming

Commercial business

Industry

Professional business

International agency

A government, a government department or agency

Investors must invest $800,000 for five years

The applicant must also agree to invest at least CAN$800,000 over 5 years through a financial investment approved by Quebec's immigration authority, La Ministère d'Immigration et des Communautés Culturelles and its investment regulator Investissement Quebec.

Please note that applicants are required to sign a declaration that they intend to settle in Quebec and may not reside in other parts of Canada. Indeed, Canadian Immigration minister Jason Kenney told the press in March 2013 that successful applicants under the QIIP who settle in Toronto or Vancouver are committing fraud.

He told journalists at a Toronto press conference 'If you are sitting somewhere today hoping to apply for the Quebec investor program but you expect to go and live in Vancouver or Toronto that is fraud. It's misrepresentation under the Immigration Act.'

Mr Kenney said that 90% of those people who enter Canada under the QIIP actually settle outside Quebec. He announced that the Canadian federal government was to begin a crackdown on abuse.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The UK's Office for National Statistics has revealed that in 2011, 24% of babies born in the UK had a foreign-born father. Over a third of babies had one parent born overseas. The most common birth countries of foreign-born fathers are Pakistan, Poland and then India and Bangladesh. In 2010, 23% of fathers were born overseas.

131,100 children born in the UK in 2011 had two foreign born parents and a further 86,000 had one foreign born parent.

Dr David Green of the liberal think tank Civitas told The Daily Telegraph of his concerns that this might cause problems of integration in coming years and said that it might cause problems for teaching in schools where large numbers of children do not speak English at home.

Meanwhile, UK newspaper The Daily Mail has reported that DNA analysis has shown that the Duke of Cambridge who is second in line to the UK's throne, will be the first UK monarch with Indian blood. It reports that Prince William's great, great, great, great, great grandmother, Eliza Kewark was at least half Indian.

Prince William's ancestor was Indian

Eliza was originally the housekeeper to Theodore Forbes but they married and had three children. Theodore later abandoned Eliza in India and took their children back to Scotland to his family's estate. One of these, Kitty or Catherine, was an ancestor of Prince William's mother, Diana Spencer, who married William's father, Prince Charles.

Analysis of the DNA of some of Kitty's other descendants' shows that their DNA contains a mutation only found in people of Indian descent. This DNA will therefore also be in Prince William's genetic makeup.

Perhaps it is appropriate that, at a time when statistics show that the UK's population contains a growing number of people of Indian descent, after Prince William ascends the throne, the monarch will have something in common with them.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

In June 2013, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) issued its International Migration Outlook report for 2013. The report contains summaries of changes in immigration in the 34 member countries of the OECD including Australia.

Australia accepted 219,500 permanent migrants in 2011/12. The majority of these came under the Australian government's skill stream. This stream is reserved for workers and their families. Only 56,200 actual work visas were granted but this amounts to 25.6% of the total, compared to only 6.1% in the US in 2011.

The main source countries for new permanent residents in Australia under the Australian migration programme in 2011/12 were India (29,000) and China (25,500). The OECD reports that seven of the top ten countries of origin for new residents in 2011/12 are in Asia which may reflect Australia's decision to focus on its regional relationships in the coming century.

Third highest number of work program migrants from UK

The UK still provided the third highest number of settlers under the migration program (25,000). In addition, 44,000 New Zealanders settled in Australia under the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement which allows free movement between the two countries.

The OECD reports that Australia also accepted some 680,000 temporary migrants in 2011/12. Many of these were students (37%). In Australia, the OECD reports, in 2011/12 550,000 international students were studying in Australia. Over 75% of these were from Asian countries.

The OECD notes that Enterprise Migration Agreements (EMAs) were introduced in Australia in May 2012. These EMAs enable Australian employers to apply for a large number of Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457) visas (known as 457 visas) at once to enable them to employ foreign workers to work in large projects with a projected cost of over AUS$2bn. This may have contributed to the rise in the number of 457 visas issued in 2011/12 compared to the previous year.

SkillSelect introduced in 2012

The OECD also refers to the introduction of Australia's SkillSelect program in July 2012. This system is designed to make Australia's immigration system more responsive to the needs of business. Under the new system, anyone wishing to emigrate to Australia as a skilled worker must first submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to Australia's Department of Immigration and Employment (DIAC).

They will then be invited to apply for a visa if DIAC thinks they are desirable.

Monday, June 24, 2013

The UK's legal establishment has united in condemnation of plans by the government to limit the right of some immigrants to the UK to receive legal aid in immigration cases. The UK's Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, announced plans to bar immigrants from receiving state funded legal assistance until they have lived in the UK legally for twelve months. Among those who would lose the right to legal aid would be 'illegal visa overstayers, clandestine entrants and failed asylum seekers'.

Mr Grayling's plans form part of a series of cuts to his department's budget which have caused concern among the nation's lawyers. The UK's Coalition government is dedicated to cutting billions of pounds from government spending which it believes is now at an unsustainable level. The government is faced with a large budget deficit which it is seeking to reduce.

Mr Grayling has also announced proposals to remove eligibility for legal aid from most UK citizens and to change the system so that defendants in criminal cases will be provided with a state-appointed solicitor rather than choosing their own representative as they do at present. Law firms will bid for contracts to provide services for a geographical area and will then be allotted all cases of defendants born on certain dates or with surnames beginning with certain letters of the alphabet.

Plan leaves immigrants 'unable to bring claims that are crucial to their lives'

But the Civil Justice Council, an advisory board which counts the UK's second most senior judge the Master of the Rolls as a member, has criticised Mr Grayling's proposal to remove legal aid from immigrants. It says that the plan runs counter to 'the fundamental principle of equality before the law' and could leave immigrants 'unable to bring or defend claims that are crucial to their lives'. The CJC goes on to warn that, if the changes are made, this will diminish 'the credibility of the UK's encouragement of the rule of law elsewhere in the world'.

But the UK's Ministry of Justice says that there will be safeguards for deserving and vulnerable people. Members of the armed forces will still be entitled to legal aid as will be asylum seekers whose cases have yet to be processed. Mr Grayling is on record as saying that he does not want 'individuals with little or no connection to this country' to be 'able to claim legal aid to bring civil actions at UK taxpayers' expense'.

The head of anti-immigration pressure group Migrationwatch UK, Sir Andrew Green, has said that it is 'extraordinary that the CJC should object to Mr Grayling's plans. He told The Daily Mail, a UK paper, that 'the argument seems to be that anyone who sets foot in Britain should immediately qualify for legal aid at the taxpayers' expense'.

Mr Grayling says that there were 8,734 immigration judicial review cases brought in 2011. – Judicial review is a method of challenging the decisions made by public bodies such as the UK's Home Office. He says that of these cases, only 607 got as far as a court hearing and only 31 were successful. He says, therefore, that many of those applications for judicial review were without merit. He argues that the system is being abused by lawyers who apply for judicial review in order to delay the deportation of their clients even when there is no chance that the review will be successful.

Many claims that are withdrawn because UKBA backs down

But writing in The Guardian, another UK newspaper, immigration barrister Julian Norman says that just because a case does not result in a successful legal ruling, it does not mean it is without merit. Ms Norman says that on one occasion her client's claim was being processed when she received word that the UK Border Agency (the UKBA) was intending to deport him illegally. She said 'Telephone calls to UKBA yielded no result, so judicial review was the only answer. Immediately the JR was lodged, he was released with a muttered apology'.

Ms Norman reports that, a few weeks later, UKBA attempted to deport her client illegally again. Again, unable to make the UK, respond in any other way, she launched another Judicial Review before the UKBA again agreed not to deport him.

She says 'Those cases were technically among those Grayling regards as meritless, because they did not get as far as being granted permission. UKBA could have fought us and we would have won – but isn't it better that they do concede at the earliest opportunity?'

She adds 'These are the types of cases which immigration solicitors and barristers deal with on a daily basis. A combination of over-legislation and under-staffing at UKBA [has created] a toxic mix'.

Friday, June 21, 2013

A group of right-wing Conservative MPs has issued a report which suggests that the UK government should raise money and diversify its economy away from its dependence on the European Union by selling visas to rich individuals and international companies.

The Free Enterprise Group is a recently formed group of 43 Conservative MPs. Its website says that 'Conservatives need to recast the argument about free enterprise for a new age or risk losing the debate to a tide of anti-market socialisation'.

The report, The Innovation Economy – Industrial Policy for the 21st Century, was written by George Freeman MP and Kwasi Kwarteng MP. Mr Kwarteng is the old Etonian son of Ghanaian parents who immigrated to the UK in the 1960s as students.

The report's premise is that the UK's economy has become increasingly 'unbalanced' in recent years because it is 'overly dependent on the City and cheap credit, unsustainable rises in public sector spending and trading with the sclerotic Eurozone'.

The report suggests three measures to help the UK economy prosper through innovation. It suggests

Unleashing private sector enterprise

Unlocking the economic value of the public sector and

Diversifying trade away from the EU to the global economy

Three policies to jumpstart the UK economy

The report suggests three policies what will help to diversify the UK's trade away from the EU. These are

Lowering corporation tax to 10%

Developing new partnerships with emerging markets and

The introduction of 'market based immigration visas'

Kwarteng and Freeman note that the current UK government is committed to reducing UK immigration but say that 'highly skilled immigration is crucial for growth and business'.

They argue that 'selling visas to companies or individuals would be less bureaucratic than today's system, allow the government to control the flow through price changes and ensure that workers would only come if they added significant value to the economy'.

Freeman and Kwarteng have not given any details as to how their market-based system would work in practice but it is clear that they believe that less regulation will always produce better results. Mr Freeman told UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph 'We need to do more to unleash an entrepreneurial ethos both in the public and private sector. This requires bold new thinking like a pro-enterprise immigration policy and a new deal for business.'

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Australia has a new cricketing hero; Australian immigration minister Brendan O'Connor. The Australian team needed help and Mr O'Connor has leapt to the rescue. He will not, sadly, be playing himself but he is responsible for a new law being rushed through the Australian parliament that will allow a Pakistani-born refugee called Fawad Ahmed to play for the Australian national team a month sooner than is currently the case.

Australia's cricket team recently arrived in England to compete in the Champions' Trophy; a One Day International tournament contested by the eight best teams in the world; India, South Africa, Australia, England, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand.

After the Champions' Trophy, the Australians will stay in England to play the England team in a series of five five-day test matches to decide the latest contest in one of the longest-lasting and most intense rivalries in world cricket; 'The Ashes'.

The Ashes of English cricket

The name The Ashes was coined in 1882 after Australia first beat England at cricket. An English sporting paper, The Sporting Times, published an obituary of English cricket saying that English cricket was dead. It said 'the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia'. The English media dubbed the next tour to Australia later that year as 'the quest to regain the Ashes'. This summer the 67th Ashes series will be held in England. So far, Australia has won 31 series, England has won 30 and five have been drawn.

For many years, Australia was dominant in the Ashes. They won eight series in a row between 1989 and 2005. However, since then, they have won only one of the four series played. This summer, the bookmakers say that they are going to lose again.

The pundits say that England's test team is superior to the Australians in every area of the game. England has five batsmen ranked in the top 30 test players in the world while Australia has only one. England has four bowlers in the top twenty whereas Australia has only two.

Australians need a spinner

Nowhere is the English superiority more pronounced than in the field of spin bowling. Graham Swann, England's top spin bowler is rated by the International Cricket Conference (ICC) as the 6th best bowler in the world. Australia's current best, Nathan Lyon, does not even make the top 50. In fact, he is rated number 560 in the world.

But thanks to Mr O'Connor, the Australians may have a saviour in the shape of Fawad. He is a refugee from Pakistan and a talented cricketer. He played ten first class matches in Pakistan and first visited Australia in 2010 on a short stay visa to play cricket. When he arrived, he immediately applied for asylum claiming that he had been threatened by fundamentalists after working with an NGO educating women near the border with Afghanistan.

His initial application for asylum was refused as groundless but, after strong lobbying from Cricket Australia, the then immigration minister overruled the initial decision.

Fawad only currently eligible for last test match

Fawad has since applied for Australian citizenship and would, under normal circumstances, have become eligible to play for Australia on 18th August 2013. Unfortunately for the Australians, that would leave Fawad eligible to play only in the final match of the series, by when, if the bookmakers are right, Australia will have lost the series. The first test match of the Ashes series begins on 10th July 2013.

Now thanks to their new sporting hero, Brendan O'Connor, Fawad may be on the pitch for that game. Mr O'Connor has introduced a bill in the Australian parliament that will allow him to rush Australian citizenship applications through in certain circumstances.

Mr O'Connor has said that the circumstances he has in mind include 'international cricket competitions'. If the bill becomes law, Fawad's citizenship application could be rushed through by July 10th and allow him to play for Australia in the entire series.

Warne supports Fawad's inclusion

The move is controversial but has been approved by former Australian spin bowler Shane Warne who told the BBC that Fawad deserved to be in the Australian team.

If he is picked, Fawad will not be the only Pakistani-born player in the Australian squad; batsman Usman Khawaja first played for Australia in 2010. He emigrated with his parents from Pakistan to Australia when he was a child. That the Australian cricket team should include two Muslims from Pakistan illustrates the fact that international migration is changing the world.

Thanks to Mr O'Connor, that time will probably arrive forty days and four test matches sooner than expected.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The latest figures released by the UK government show that the UK immigration authorities managed to process only 51% of employment based UK visas within their Service Standard period (four weeks for postal applications) in the year 2012-13.

They were only able to process 25% of student visa applications within the service standard. Their service standard target was to deal with 65% of employment visas and 85% of student visas within the service standard period of four weeks.

The figures show that this performance was markedly worse than in the year 2011-12 when UK immigration dealt with 81% of employment visa applications and 78% of study visa applications in a timely manner. There is, as yet, no explanation for this woeful performance.

The total number of visas that were made was more or less the same in both years so there was no added pressure on the service. Throughout the period in question, senior staff at the UK Border Agency (UKBA) had been assuring UK politicians that the performance of the UKBA was improving.

UK's five tier points based visa system

Most UK employment visas are awarded under the UK's five tier points-based visa system. The system divides work visa applicants into three tiers:

Tier 1 is for 'high value migrants'. These include

Entrepreneurs who must usually invest around £200,000 in the UK in a business they intend to run in the UK (though this can be as low as £50,000 in some circumstances).

Investors must have £1m in disposable capital to invest in the UK. They must invest £750,000 by way of government bonds, shares, or loan capital, in active, trading UK companies (other than property companies) and the remainder may be spent on 'assets' (perhaps property) or placed in a deposit account.

Those with 'Exceptional Talent' who have a globally recognised talent in the arts or sciences.

Tier 2 is for ' skilled workers' and includes

Tier 2 (General) visas for 'foreign nationals who have been offered a skilled job to fill a gap in the workforce that cannot be filled by a settled worker' and

Tier 2 (Intra Company Transfer) visas for the employees of multinational companies which want to transfer staff from their operations overseas to work in the UK.

Tier 5 is for temporary workers who intend to stay in the UK for a limited period only, usually under two years.

Most higher education students come to the UK with Tier 4 student visas.

Only non-EEA nationals need apply

Only immigrants from outside the European Economic Area need to apply for a UK visa. European citizens require only their passports. Most EU citizens are allowed to work in the UK without a visa or work permit. They do not need to apply for a residence permit either but if they have a dependent family member who is not an EU citizen, then it is advisable for them to do so. Also, if a European citizen wished to apply for UK citizenship, it might be easier to do so if he had first become a resident and then, after five years, a permanent resident.

The figures are

2011/12

2012/13

Employment visas

81% (81,593 out of 100,84)

51% (51,876 out of 102,276)

Study visas

78% (89,351 out of 114,219)

25% (27,200 out of 107,209)

There was some good news. The performance for permanent residence and citizenship applications actually improved slightly. From 2008 until March this year, the UK's visa applications were dealt with by the UKBA which was established by the then Labour government as an independent agency answerable to the UK's Home Office. Labour hoped that the UKBA's independence would enable it to function efficiently, without constant ministerial interference.

UKBA abolished for being 'not good enough'

However, the UKBA was abolished this year by the UK's current Home Secretary Theresa May in March. Mrs May said that the UKBA was simply 'not good enough' and said that, far from promoting efficiency, the UKBA's independence had, instead, created a 'secretive and defensive culture' in which the UKBA continued to hide its inefficiency from the UK's independent immigration inspector.

The spur for the foundation of the UKBA was the discovery that the former immigration authority, the Immigration Directorate, was responsible for almost unimaginable levels of incompetence. A hidden backlog of 450,000 asylum cases was discovered in 2006 causing the then Home Secretary Dr John Reid to declare that the Home Office was 'not fit for purpose'.

The UKBA never managed to deal with the problems it inherited and, at the time it was abolished, there was still a backlog of over 310,000 cases waiting to be decided.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The Quebec Immigrant Investor Program (QIIP) is tentatively scheduled to reopen on 1st August 2013. If it does, then Quebec will accept 'a limited number of applications' before closing the program again so, if you are interested, it would be well to begin to prepare your application now.

The QIIP was last reopened on 21st March 2012. At that time, the Quebecois government announced that it would accept 2700 applications before closing the program again. These 2,700 applications were received within one month. So if past experience is anything to go by, investors will need to apply quickly in order to beat the rush.

To qualify for the QIIP, applicants must have net assets of at least CAN$1,600,000 which must have been lawfully acquired. Any money donated to the applicant in the six months before the application is made will be discounted.

They must also have worked in management for at least two years in the last five years in one of the following fields

Farming

Commercial business

Industry

Professional business

International agency

A government, a government department or agency

Investors must invest $800,000 for five years

The applicant must also agree to invest at least CAN$800,000 over 5 years through a financial investment approved by Quebec's immigration authority, La Ministère d'Immigration et des Communautés Culturelles and its investment regulator Investissement Quebec.

Please note that applicants are required to sign a declaration that they intend to settle in Quebec and may not reside in other parts of Canada. Indeed, Canadian Immigration minister Jason Kenney told the press in March 2013 that successful applicants under the QIIP who settle in Toronto or Vancouver are committing fraud.

He told journalists at a Toronto press conference 'If you are sitting somewhere today hoping to apply for the Quebec investor program but you expect to go and live in Vancouver or Toronto that is fraud. It's misrepresentation under the Immigration Act.'

Mr Kenney said that 90% of those people who enter Canada under the QIIP actually settle outside Quebec. He announced that the Canadian federal government was to begin a crackdown on abuse.

Monday, June 17, 2013

The Speaker of the UK's House of Commons, John Bercow, has angered Conservative MPs by giving a speech in Romania in which he said that the UK had benefited because of immigration from the European Union. The Conservatives say that the speaker, whose job it is to control debates in the House of Commons, should always remain neutral and never offer his opinions on any subject for fear of seeming to favour one party's position over another.

Mr Bercow travelled to Romania in the last week of May 2013 having been invited by the Romanian parliament. The trip was supported by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. As well as being the speaker, Mr Bercow is the grandson of Jewish refugees who fled Romania and settled in London. While in Bucharest, he made a speech in which he said that eastern European migrants who have settled in the UK over the last decade have made an important contribution to life in the UK.

While in Bucharest, Mr Bercow said 'I believe things should be controlled and monitored when it comes to migration and any state that wants to protect its own people should do this but there are also great advantages. I want to underline the fact that there has been an important wave of immigrants that came to Great Britain from new member states and in many cases they came with aptitudes and a commitment, an involvement, we haven't always seem in our labour force'.

Mr Bercow then gave a press conference at which he said that the UK press in which he said that he was 'someone who sees the benefits of immigration' and criticised the UK's press for its negative coverage of immigration stories.

The speaker needs to be seen to be neutral

Some Conservative critics say that he went too far by offering his views as to the benefits of immigration. Some UK commentators suggest that he also insulted British workers. Rob Wilson, the Conservative MP for Reading East, said, 'immigration is an incredibly important and sensitive matter that generates very strong opinions. The Speaker needs not only to be neutral in his handling of debates on the issue, but he needs to be seen to be neutral'.

In 2008, there were rumours that Mr Bercow might defect from the Conservatives to the Labour Party. This might explain why he was voted in as the speaker of the House in 2009 largely because of support from Labour members of parliament. It is said that many Conservatives believe that Mr Bercow favours the Labour Party in debates in the House and see him as a traitor.

Mr Bercow was also criticised by the leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage. He said 'It is outrageous that Mr Bercow is happy to overthrow the wisdom of ages and think it acceptable to comment on matters that are both highly political and deeply contentious. He is a disgrace to the office of speaker'.

Friday, June 14, 2013

The Australian Senate has voted for an amendment which would allow the authorities to take asylum seekers who land on the Australian mainland and hold them in offshore processing camps on Nauru and the Papua New Guinean island of Manus. Until now, only those asylum seekers who were intercepted at sea or who landed on Australian offshore territories like Christmas Island could be held in the camps.

The Migration Amendment (Unauthorised Maritime Arrivals and Other Measures) Bill 2012 was approved by the Australian Senate on 16th May 2013. The opposition Coalition supported the measure. It will have to be approved by the lower house of the parliament as well to become law.

The change to the law has been triggered by a sharp increase in the number of people arriving in Australia by boat in an effort to claim asylum. Over 6,000 asylum seekers have arrived by boat on the Australian mainland in 2013. Most of these were Sri Lankans.

The Conservative government of John Howard tried to introduce the measure in 2006 but failed because of opposition from the Australian Labor Party. On 16th May, the Labor Party was in power. The Australian Green Party, which opposed the measure, has said that the amendment is 'a stain on the national character'.

UNHCR condemns amendment

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has condemned the change to the law. It issued a statement saying 'UNHCR's position has always been for all asylum seekers arriving into Australian territory by whatever means and wherever to be given access to a full and efficient refugee status determination process in Australia .This would be consistent with general practice and in line with international refugee law. If asylum seekers are transferred to another country, the legal responsibility for those asylum seekers may, in some circumstances be shared with that country'.

The UNHCR has already stated that it considers that the camps on Nauru and Manus are less than satisfactory. Earlier in 2013, there was a mass hunger strike on Nauru with many inmates having to be hospitalised.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

The UK's Business Secretary, Vince Cable, has told an international educational conference that the inclusion of international students in the UK's immigration statistics and negative anti-immigration remarks in the UK has led to bad publicity in India. In recent years more Indian students have decided to study in countries other than the UK.

Mr Cable was speaking days after UK immigration statistics showed that 56,000 fewer international students began their studies at UK educational institutions in 2012 than in 2011. Much of this fall was caused by a fall in the numbers of students coming from South Asian Countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The number of students at UK universities actually rose by 1% but there was a sharp fall in the number of students attending other educational institutions such as further education colleges.

Mr Cable told the Global Universities Summit in London that some Indian papers were reporting that the UK government did not welcome international students. He said that the Indian press had read press reports in the UK press, which had been negative about immigration, and confused these with government policy on overseas students. Mr Cable said that 'in some of the Indian provincial newspapers the message has gone out that the British no longer want Indian students, which is wrong'.

No cap on the number of international students – Cable

Mr Cable said that the UK government was very much in favour of attracting as many international students to the UK as it could; 'I just want to make it absolutely clear' he told the audience, 'as far as the government is concerned we have no cap on the number of overseas students [and] we don't intend to introduce one'.

He added that students had got caught up in the UK debate about immigration because of 'a statistical anomaly'. He said it was because the UN had ordained that, for statistical purposes, students should be classed as migrants that they had got caught up in the UK's debate on immigration. Mr Cable said 'the UN, in its wisdom, has classified overseas students as immigrants, which they are not'.

He said that when students are included in the immigration statistics as 'immigrants', which they are at present, a rise in the number of international students studying at UK universities can look, at first glance, like a rise in the level of permanent immigration into the country.

British public do not see students as immigrants - Cable

Mr Cable said 'all the evidence suggests that the British public do not see [students] as immigrants but, nonetheless, they have got caught up in this very torrid and emotional debate in the UK'.

Conversely, when the number of international students at UK universities falls, this leads to a fall in the headline immigration figure which, Mr Cable said is interpreted as 'a great triumph for immigration control, which is quite absurd'. Mr Cable said 'we need to find a cleverer way to present the data'.

Mr Cable's words seem to suggest that he favours removing students from the official immigration figures. This would put him at odds with the UK's Home Secretary Theresa May and the Immigration Minister Mark Harper, who say that students must be treated as immigrants in the statistics because to remove them would be a statistical trick and contrary to UN guidelines. It is believed that David Willetts, the Universities Minister and George Osborne the Chancellor of the Exchequer also favour removing students from the statistics.

Last week, the official statistics suggested that net immigration in the year to September 2012 had fallen by nearly 90,000 on the previous year to 153,000. This was welcomed by Mr Harper as evidence that the government's measures to cut immigration were having the desired effect and were leading to reduced levels of immigration to the UK. However, critics pointed out that much of this fall was caused by a reduction in the number of students coming to study in the UK with Tier 4 student visas.

56,000 fall in number of student visas in 2012

In the year to September 2012 there were only 190,000 Tier 4 visas issued compared to 246,000 in the year to September 2011. It also remains to be seen if the Government ever manages to reduce net immigration to the "tens of thousands" as promised by the Conservative Party, the main Coalition Partner in the Government, at the last General Election.

David Cameron, the UK's Prime Minister, told India's Sunrise TV, 'there is no limit on the number of students who can come from India to study at British universities, no limit at all. All you need is a basic English qualification and a place at a British university. And, what's more, after you've left a British university, if you can get a graduate-level job, there is no limit to the amount of people who can stay and work, or the time that they can stay at work'.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

The Federal Court of Canada has ruled that a company that employed 200 Chinese miners under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) in 2012 was acting lawfully.

Two Canadian unions had challenged the decision by the Canadian government to allow HD Mining, a 55% Chinese-owned company, to employ Chinese workers in its operations in British Columbia when there were unemployed Canadian miners who could have done the job.

The unions argued that the Canadian government should never have granted temporary work permits to the company under the TFWP because there were plenty of Canadian workers who were both qualified and available. 300 Canadian miners applied to work at the mine.

Unions alleged Chinese workers were underpaid

The unions; The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115 and the Construction and Specialized Workers Union, also alleged that HD Mining was paying its Chinese workers $10 less per hour than the going rate for a miner in Canada and failing to pay them any of the benefits that a Canadian miner would receive. They also alleged that HD Mining had insisted that miners should be able to speak Chinese in order to work at the Murray River Coal Mine near Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia.

The Unions went to court to challenge the decision of a federal government official to grant temporary work permits to the company arguing that to do so when there were Canadians who were available to do the job was against the rules of the TFWP. The unions had asked the court to declare the work permits issued to the Chinese miners invalid and to quash the Canadian government decision to grant them in the first place.

At the time that the unions lodged their legal challenge in November 2012, Diane Finley, the Canadian Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development announced a review of the TFWP. She said that she and her department were 'not satisfied that sufficient efforts were made to recruit or train Canadians interested in these jobs'.

Canadian workers were not properly qualified

But Justice Russel Zin found that the official had acted reasonably in granting the company the right to employ the Chinese workers. He found that the company had made reasonable efforts to find Canadian workers to work at the mine, as the law requires, but had found that there was a labour shortage in the mining industry He said that the 300 Canadian miners who applied for the 200 available positions were not properly qualified for the job because they were not familiar with the mining method used at the Murray River mine.

The judge reasoned that the Canadian official involved therefore acted reasonably in providing a 'positive labour market opinion' to HD Mining. A Labour Market Opinion is an assessment of the impact that granting a temporary work permit for a certain job will have on the Canadian job market. If it is positive or neutral, then the Canadian government can allow the employer to employ a temporary foreign worker.

HD Mining intends to extract coal using a mining method known as 'long wall mining' which involves cutting the coal into large brick-shaped blocks and then removing these by conveyor belt. HD argued that there are no other mines in Canada that use this mining method. Consequently, they argued, there are no skilled long wall miners available. The judge accepted this argument.

'This is a complete vindication' – HD Mining

After the ruling, HD Mining issued a statement saying 'This is a complete vindication of our company but it has come at a great cost and has raised significant questions in the international investment community'.

Ms Finney issued a statement saying that her department respected the court's decision. However, since the HD Mining case, another high profile case involving the Royal Bank of Canada led the government to announce immediate reforms to the TFWP. The statement read 'Our government is taking decisive action for Canadian workers by reforming the TFWP and making sure that Canadian workers are always put first'.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Michael Easson, an immigration advisor to the Australian government has said that claims by government ministers that there is widespread abuse of the Temporary Work (Skilled) Visa (Subclass 457), better known as the '457 visa' are false.

Mr Easson, the chairman of the ministerial advisory council on skilled migration, told journalists that there had been 'unhealthy rhetoric' on the subject. This appears to be a reference to the immigration minister Brendan O'Connor who announced in February that the government would crack down on abuse of the system or 'rorting'.

Mr O'Connor has said that about 10% of 457 visas are 'rorted'. There are currently some 105,000 people in Australia with 457 visas so this would mean that over 10,000 457 visas were obtained by 'rorting'.

457 temporary work visa lasts for up to four years

The 457 visa is a temporary work visa that allows Australian employers to employ workers skilled in occupations which are on the Australian government's Consolidated Shortage Occupation List (CSOL). An Australian employer has to apply to sponsor an overseas worker then nominate the particular worker for a visa. Foreign workers with 457 visas can stay in Australia for up to four years and enter and leave the country as often as they wish.

Australian unions have complained for some time that employers have used the 457 visa to employ foreign workers on low wages to undercut native Australian workers. They claim that workers have been given 457 visas to work in a skilled occupation, such as office administrator, but are then employed in unskilled positions, for example as security guards.

This year, the Australian Labor Party government has made similar claims. The Australian opposition says that the Labor government is motivated by electoral politics rather than a desire to reform the 457 visa system and is trying to win union votes in the Australian general election which will be held in September.

The Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard gave a speech in March in which she said that she wanted to 'put Aussie workers first' and backed Mr O'Connor's plan to legislate to cut abuse of the 457 visa system.

Only 2% of 457 visa holders paid less than $51,400 per annum

However, a report by the Migration Council of Australia (MCA, a pro-immigration think-tank and pressure group), says that only about 2% of 457 visa holders are paid less than the AUS$51,400 minimum annual salary for 457 visa holders.

The Australian government has countered that 25% of 457 visa holders refused to tell the MCA what their salary was. A further 7% said that their working conditions were worse than Australian colleagues and 5% complained that their employers were not abiding by the 457 visa rules.

Mr Easson said that the MCA report showed that there were some problems with the system but said that was only to be expected. He told The Australian newspaper 'The current debate on the program is healthy because it calls attention to what has been one of the most remarkable changes in immigration policy and practice since the war. But what has been unhealthy has been some of the rhetoric and suggestions the program is out of control. It isn't.'

He said 'at most there's a 3 to 4% highlighting of problems of various kinds, all within the margin of what could be expected with a major program. We need to keep nailing down the loose planks, not nailing down the floorboards.'

Monday, June 10, 2013

John Vine, the UK's Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, has agreed to renew his contract. Mr Vine was first appointed in 2008 and has been credited by MPs with exposing many failings of the UK's former immigration authority, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) which was abolished in March 2013.

Mr Vine placed an announcement on the chief inspector of immigration's website saying that he had accepted an offer from the Home Secretary to renew his contract. He will remain in post until July 2015.

Mr Vine was a top police officer before taking over as chief inspector of immigration. He began his career with West Yorkshire Police in 1981 and served as chief constable of the Tayside Police in Scotland for eight years between 2000 and 2008.

Inspector responsible for finding 'The Migration Refusals Pool'

In July 2012, Mr Vine and his inspectors exposed the existence of a hidden cache of 180,000 cases known as the migration refusals pool. These were cases where the applicant had applied for the right to remain in the UK but had been refused. Thereafter, the UKBA had made no effort to remove the applicants from the country.

In November 2012, Mr Vine issued an extremely critical report about the UKBA which said that it had failed to deal with a backlog of 450,000 cases which it inherited when it was founded in 2008. Mr Vine said that the UKBA was a chaotic organisation which failed to deal systematically with applications but instead moved cases from one archive to another without dealing with them.

He revealed that UKBA staff had left 150 boxes of mail containing over 100,000 letters unopened in a storage room at its Liverpool office for months. The letters contained vital court papers and passports.

UKBA failed to meet visa processing targets

Another report by Mr Vine revealed that the UKBA was failing to meet its service standard targets for processing UK visas such as those for Tier 1 (High Value Migrant) visas, Tier 2 (Highly Skilled Migrant) visas and Tier 4 student visas.

He exposed failings in every part of the UKBA's operations and it must be partly because of his work that, on March 25th 2013, Theresa May announced that the UKBA was to be abolished because it was 'not good enough'.

Mr Vine's investigations also led MPs on the Home Affairs Committee, which oversaw the work of the UKBA, to call its former chief executive Lyn Homer to come before the committee in December 2012 to explain why she had 'misled' the MPs for years about the progress that the UKBA had been making in dealing with the immigration backlog.

Ms Homer, who was promoted to run the UK's tax collection authority Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), in 2011, claimed that Mr Vine had probably come to his conclusions because he had failed to understand the complex nature of the UKBA's work. She claimed that he was mistaken in some of his findings.

Incredible that person responsible for running UKBA should have been promoted

At a later committee session, Mr Vine said that he stood by his evidence. The Committee clearly preferred the chief inspector's evidence to that of the former chief executive because Keith Vaz MP (Labour), the chairman of the committee, stated that it was incredible that Ms Homer should have been promoted to run HMRC having made such a mess of running the UKBA.

In 2012, Mr Vaz suggested to Mr Vine that he should apply for the then vacant post of chief secretary to the Home Office. This post was later taken on by former UK ambassador to Afghanistan Mark Sedwill but Mr Vaz will no doubt be pleased that Mr Vine has chosen to extend his contract.

Mr Vine issued a statement saying 'I am pleased that I will be continuing as Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration until July 2015. Since 2009 the Inspectorate has carried out over 40 inspections and made over 450 recommendations to the Home Office regarding the UK's border and immigration functions. ... We will continue to shine a light in the areas of borders and immigration that are not otherwise visible.'

Thursday, June 6, 2013

The British Dental Association has joined the Royal College of GPs in expressing concern about the UK government's proposed immigration reforms.

On May 8th 2013, the UK's Coalition government announced its intention to pass a law that would limit the access of recently arrived migrants to use the UK's free medical care system the National Health Service (NHS). The government stated that its proposed law would require doctors and dentists to check that patients are eligible for free health care before treating them. The law would also require visitors to the UK to pay a contribution towards any NHS treatment.

In fact, some foreign nationals are already legally required to pay for their NHS treatment though the following people are already entitled to free NHS care

People who are normally resident in the UK but have moved abroad for work reasons for less than five years

NHS is failing to make non-residents pay for treatment

However, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says that hospitals routinely fail to make patients who are legally obliged to pay for their treatment do so. He told the BBC's World at One programme that if hospitals ' treat someone who is not entitled to NHS care – if they declare that person is a foreigner who is not entitled to that care then they have the responsibility to collect the money from that person. Whereas if they declare that person as a UK national then the money is paid for by the NHS'.

The details of what changes the government will introduce and how they would work have not been revealed but the Royal College of General Practitioners, the professional organisation for doctors working in 'general practice' immediately issued a statement saying that the proposals would turn them into 'de facto border guards'. The College's chairman Dr Clare Gerarda told UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph 'GPs must not be a new border agency in policing access to the NHS'.

More recently, Dr Judith Husband of the British Dental Association has said that 'any decisions must be underpinned by the principle that clinicians' obligations to treat patients requiring urgent care or who are not able to pay for it are not undermined.

Doctors need guidelines on how to act

Dr Husband has also said that, if the government does intend to introduce this change, it must issue medical practitioners with guidelines to allow them to carry out their duties correctly. She said 'It is important that clinicians are provided with clear guidance about what is required so that any policy changes can be understood, implemented and communicated clearly and that they are fully supported in introducing and enforcing any change.

UK government sources have said that the new law will not be in place until mid 2014 at the earliest. However, it is possible that the changes will not be introduced at all. The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt was unable to tell journalists how the proposed system of checks would work when asked. He has said that the government will announce the details 'when the time is right'.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Comprehensive immigration reform came a step closer for the US on Tuesday when the US Senate's powerful Judiciary Committee voted 13-5 in favour of a bill that would radically alter almost every aspect of the US's immigration system.

The Judiciary Committee voted 13-5 in favour of the bill which will now be voted on by the whole Senate. Both Republicans and Democrats voted in favour of the bill after Democrat Senator Patrick Leahy withdrew his proposed amendment that would have allowed same-sex partners the same rights under the law as husbands and wives. Senator Leahy withdrew his amendment to prevent right-wing and religious Republicans from voting against the bill, which some would have done if his amendment had been included in it.

Bill will require support from both houses of Congress

In order to become law the bill will have to be passed by the Senate, which is the upper house of the US Congress and also by the House of Representatives, the lower house. To be passed by the Senate, it will require support from at least 60 of the 100 Senators who comprise the Senate. There are currently 53 Democrats and 45 Republicans as well as two independents in the Senate which means that the bill will require some support from Republicans in order to become law.

If it does pass, the law will have far-reaching effects. The most controversial measure is the establishment of a 'pathway to citizenship' for many of the estimated 11m illegal immigrants currently living in the US but the bill goes much further than that, seeking to reform the entire system which politicians in both major US parties accept is 'broken'.

Other measures include

A further $4.5bn to be spent on border security along the Mexican border

A significant increase in the number of work-related permanent resident visas available to skilled migrants. Permanent resident visas are also known as 'green cards'

An increase in the number of H-1B (temporary work) visas from 65,000 to 110,000 immediately with a possibility that this figure could rise to 180,000 annually. H-1B visas last for three years and allow university level graduates to work in a 'specialty occupation'

The creation of a new 'w-visa' for low-skilled workers to enter the US legally

Obama welcomes progress

President Obama welcomed the vote in favour of reform. The President made immigration reform one of the main priorities for his second term in office. The bill which is currently before Congress; The Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act 2013, was drafted by a group of eight Senators known as 'The Gang of Eight'.

The Gang of Eight comprised four Republicans and four Democrats. It was hoped that the bipartisan authorship of the bill might encourage bipartisan support for the bill in Congress but many Republicans have spoken out against the proposed law. The main criticism of the Act from Republicans is that it does not provide adequate border security. Republican congressmen have proposed amendments that increase border security measures.

Bill is 'still largely consistent with principles of common sense' – Obama

President Obama said on Tuesday 21st May that the proposed law was still 'largely consistent with the principles of common sense reform I have proposed and meets the challenge of fixing our broken immigration system'.

Now that Senator Leahy has dropped his proposed amendment on rights for same-sex partners, the bill is expected to pass through the Senate when the vote is held. Campaigners for lesbian and gay rights were said to be 'extremely disappointed' at the omission.

If the bill is passed with the necessary majority in the Senate, it will then move to the House of Representatives where it is expected to have a much more difficult passage. In the House, there are 232 Republicans and 206 Democrats. The bill will require 60% support to become law and so will require considerable Republican support.

Many Republicans ideologically opposed to the Act

This is by no means assured. Many Republicans are ideologically opposed to the Act because it offers a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Some Republicans have claimed that this would be wrong because it would be rewarding criminal behaviour (entering the US illegally or staying in the US when their visas expire).

Some Republicans also say that it would be poor politics for the Republicans to support this law because Hispanic voters, and it is estimated that around 80% of illegal immigrants in the US are of Hispanic ethnicity, tend to vote for the Democrats.

Nonetheless, this is a necessary step if the bill is ever to become law. Both parties say they support reform. Time will tell if they mean it.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

The latest figures show that there has been a significant drop in the net level of immigration into the UK. The net immigration figure is reached by calculating the number of immigrants over a given period and then subtracting the number of people leaving the country permanently. In the year to September 2012, 500,000 people immigrated and 347,000 left so the net immigration figure was 153,000. This is 89,000 lower than the 242,000 figure for the year to September 2011; 242,000.

At the UK's last general election in 2010, The UK's current Prime Minister David Cameron promised that he would cut immigration if he was elected. Mr Cameron did become the Prime Minister at the head of a Coalition government. The Coalition said it would reduce the UK's net immigration figure from its then level, about 260,000 per year, to 'tens of thousands' annually. This was taken to mean 'fewer than 100,000'. These latest figures show that the government has made some progress towards that goal. The net immigration figure is the lowest since 2003.

But educationalists expressed concern that a more detailed analysis of the figures shows that much of this drop has been caused by a fall in the number of overseas students coming to study in the UK with Tier 4 student visas. The number of students arriving in the UK to study with Tier 4 student visas fell by over 50,000 from 246,000 to 190,000.

In the past, the government has claimed that its attempts to crack down on immigration have forced 'bogus colleges' to close down but have not harmed the UK's university education sector. In April 2013, immigration minister Mark Harper told an online education magazine, The Pie, last month that the government had closed down colleges that sold 'immigration not education' but said that the numbers of university students coming to the UK had actually risen slightly.

University sector is being 'slowly strangled'

However, Jason Pitman of educational company Study Group told The Politico website that the government's policy was damaging the university sector and that the fall in students coming to the UK was a great concern. He said 'Even conservative estimates suggest 40% of international students arrive at universities through further education and independent pathway routes. This supply is being slowly strangled and is a catastrophe waiting to happen for UK higher education'.

Commenting on the latest figures, Mr Harper told The Independent newspaper that they showed that the government was 'continuing to bring immigration back under control'.

As well as a sharp fall in the number of students there was also a drop in the number of people admitted on family visas. There were 18,000 fewer family admissions in the year to September 2012. The figure fell from 80,000 to 62,000.

But Sarah Mulley of the Institute of Public Policy Research says that the headline figure is unlikely to fall much further as there is little more that the government can do to limit numbers. In fact, she has predicted that the number of immigrants is likely to rise again from now on. She said: "The Government's progress towards its target of reducing net migration to less than 100,000 by 2015 is being driven by falling numbers of international students. This decline comes at considerable economic cost.

She added "In any case, falling student numbers will not help the Government meet its target in the medium term. Because most students stay in the UK only for a short time, reduced immigration now will mean reduced emigration in the future, which by 2015 could partially reverse the falls we are seeing now."

Monday, June 3, 2013

New Zealand is looking for workers from the UK to help with the reconstruction of Christchurch. The city, which is situated on New Zealand's South Island, was destroyed by an earthquake in 2010. The New Zealand government has undertaken to rebuild the city. It estimates that the cost of the rebuild will be NZ$8.5bn (£4.7bn).

Immigration New Zealand is keen to attract workers with the skills to help with the rebuild; At a time when New Zealand needs more immigrants the number of migrants leaving the UK for New Zealand has fallen by 5,000 a year over the last six years. The New Zealand Herald says that New Zealand is seeking British workers because they would be 'an easy fit' in New Zealand because of the similarities of culture and because the two countries share a common language.

The government plans to rebuild the city as an environmentally friendly community full of low-rise buildings. On current projections, there will be 20,000 homes built in the next five years as well as a redevelopment of the city centre. There are vacancies for

Civil engineers

Carpenters

Builders

Decorators

Plasterers

Scaffolders

Electricians

Road workers

Digger drivers

Pipe layers

Foremen and managers

New Zealand welcomes migrants from around the world

New Zealand is seeking to attract workers from anywhere in the world, not just the UK. There are many migrants from Asia who have already made the move to New Zealand and many more are needed. Not only are there labour shortages in the construction industries, there are also shortages of medical professionals and agricultural workers.

The New Zealand Herald reports that there was considerable interest from British workers at a recent recruitment event in Newcastle. New Zealand hopes that the attractions of a less stressful lifestyle, higher average wages and a lower cost of living will attract skilled workers to make the move to the other side of the world.

Recent statistics from the New Zealand government show that the Christchurch rebuild already seems to be attracting international workers. In six of the last seven months New Zealand's population has grown due to net immigration (the number of immigrants has exceeded the number of emigrants), bucking the trend of recent years which have seen many young New Zealanders leaving to work elsewhere, particularly in Australia.

Immigration experts say that they expect strong immigration to continue for the next couple of years at least.